Brilliant
by alliencat
Summary: Neville is interrupted by Luna in the library. Please leave a review! Two-shot  or possibly more!
1. Company

"Nev?"

Luna's soft voice came from behind him; Neville turned his top half from the library seat he'd been in since ten o'clock that morning. He just didn't feel like moving. He didn't feel like doing much.

"Hello Luna," he said, peering up at her. She always seemed to just…appear. He couldn't help but smile at her pale, optimistic face. Not many people were still smiling since after the war. That was the problem – things were supposed to feel lighter, things _were_ better, but it all felt so dim. Voldemort was actually gone this time. Most of the remaining Death Eaters were in Azkaban. Life should've been delightful, but the lingering grief from all the loss – all the terrible, terrible loss – seemed as if it would never lift.

But life had to go on.

"I've been looking for you all day, have you been hiding here the whole time?" Luna said, sitting in the chair next to his.

"Yeah, pretty much. I've got a Potions exam next week, and you know how I am with all that…What did you need me for?"

"Oh I was just looking for you. To see you."

Neville was always surprised by Luna. He was mostly surprised by her words just now – he was rarely _looked_ for. Even after his popularity increase after he so "valiantly," "bravely," "courageously," "heroically" killed Nagini, he was still surprised when someone would notice him. He was uncomfortable with his new reputation. He was the same exact person before he sliced the snake's head off as he was now. Luna wasn't one of those people. She'd always noticed – they had been friends since their fifth year at Hogwarts; they took over the D.A. together, fought together, and Neville had even told her about his parents' condition. She was good, Luna was.

"You've got a Wrackspurt," she said suddenly, poking at his hand. Neville couldn't see anything but at this point, he learned to trust Luna when she did…well, Luna things. She tended to see things other people didn't.

She touched his hand gently, dabbing away the invisible Wrackspurts with her small, bright green fingernails. Then her hand paused on his for a moment. Neville looked at Luna – she had a different expression on her face than normal. She always looked as if she were in a dream, but now she looked thoughtful, with a small smile creeping up the left side of her mouth.

She lifted her hand off his quickly. "Got it."

She wiped her hand on her shirt, as if to get rid of the Wrackspurts, or maybe the tension that had filled the air quite quickly in that small moment.

"Thanks," he said, quite nervous now. He could feel the flush in his cheeks and abashedly turned his head down to his Potions book. _Damn it_, he thought quickly. _Stop blushing, you git._

"Do you know anything about Potions, Luna?" he asked, trying to start a new conversation, "I could use some help…What on earth is Bloodroot?"

"I thought you were brilliant at Herbology, Neville, and you don't know what Bloodroot is?" She said in the least offensive way possible. Luna Lovegood could've told Neville he was a blubbering idiot and she still would've sounded lovely.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm brilliant…" he blushed, unbelievably flattered. He was good at Herbology, but who on earth cared?

"I'd say you're brilliant," she said firmly. She grabbed his left hand which was fiddling with the arm of the chair and interlocked his fingers with hers. "You're brilliant, Neville."

And there they sat, holding hands, with everything possible. They paused and for that moment, the inexhaustible feeling of tense, gloomy, grief left the air, and the friends sat in simplicity, in the library, connected. Holding hands, touching souls.


	2. Touch

Luna stood in awe. She was baffled every time she came to this part of the forest. They just never ceased to amaze her. The Thestrals moved in such a beautiful way. They were classified as XXXX – extremely dangerous by the Ministry of Magic, but that was not going to stop her from coming to see them. They were so calming, gentle. Luna showed them the utmost respect and in return, she found that Thestrals are some of the kindest animals she had ever come in contact with.

"Stick out your hand, slowly," she instructed Neville. It was his first time being so close to them. He shared with Luna that he could see them after his grandfather died, but he was too afraid to tell anyone about it. They terrified him.

"I can't."

"You absolutely can," she said, moving her own hand away from the Thestral she was touching. It was scaly and veiny, and at first glance – well, first, second, and third glance, very ugly. Luna found something so beautiful about their eyes. They were light blue and large, almost translucent, like her own. "Neville, tell me. What's getting at you?"

He looked down at his shoes. "I just don't like the look of them, that's all. I believe you and all! They seem wonderful," he said, keeping his voice hushed as to not disturb the two Thestral babies sleeping by the tree next to him.

Luna turned slowly from the Thestral, who was now laying down, and turned to Neville. _I might as well tell him if I ever expect him to open up to me_, she thought.

"I've been able to see them since I was nine. My mum, she was a brilliant witch, and so beautiful, she was experimenting with a spell she had tried to alter…and she was practicing, and I was watching her, and all of a sudden, she dropped to the floor. It was quite shocking."

"Luna," Neville started, but he didn't know what to say. He always assumed she was able to see them because of the numerous tragedies at Hogwarts and such – he never suspected her, Luna, so calm and kind, with no sadness behind her eyes, to have been through something so terrible.

"It's really alright, Neville. Because now I can see these lovely things."

"You're much more lovely," he blurted out, immediately blushing. She beamed, making him feel much better about what he just unintentionally said.

"Now come here," said Luna, holding her hand out to him. He took it, nervously. "Oh dear, your palms are quite sweaty!" She looked at him as he blushed again and looked down at his brown loafers. She took his hand tightly into hers and started walking closer to the animals. She felt him resist, but kept pulling him gently until he followed her. "You're like a child!" she said with a smile. She knew she would get through to him. It would happen eventually, if she just kept pulling.

He was following her lead now, still connected by their hands. Luna stuck out her arm gracefully, as if to welcome the Thestral into her spirit. Neville did the same, very, very slowly. "Good," she whispered, keeping her head straight, staring head on at the horse.

The Thestral put its snout in Luna's hand, as someone would lay their head on a friend's shoulder. It rubbed its nose in her palm, making a gentle noise. It lifted its head and turned right to Neville. Luna felt his hand grasp tighter around hers, and she squeezed back. He kept his hand stretched out, only backing away ever so slightly. The Thestral lifted a hoof off the ground and placed it back down heavily, making a thumping noise. Neville made a small noise in his throat and his brow furrowed as if to say, _"Please get me out of here!"_

Luna watched as he whimpered. She couldn't help but smile – this was the boy who finished off the last horcrux. This was Neville Longbottom, who saw his parents tortured into mental illness, who fought Death Eaters with her at the Ministry of Magic, who stood up to Voldemort and told him directly what their whole side stood for. And he couldn't touch a Thestral without sweating. But soon enough, the Thestral's face adhered to his hand as it did to Luna's; she felt him tense up and then immediately relax. It was making the same loving noise as it did with her. After a few seconds, it lifted its snout of his hand, and he lowered his arm, breathing heavily. 

"Well look at that. Neville Longbottom made friends with a Thestral." He laughed as she said it, quietly murmuring things like "wow," and "good god."

"Yes, hm, yes I did, didn't I? That was insane, Luna…wow…" He couldn't stop saying such things as they walked slowly out of the forest, still grasping each other tightly by the hand. He stopped at the edge of the trees, right where the grass began.

"You like them that much, hm? Want to go back?" Luna joked, but when she looked at him, she saw quite an odd look on his face.

"Luna, could I kiss you?"

She was only slightly taken aback, secretly wishing this moment would come for weeks now. She beamed up at him, too happy to form a real sentence. "Yes, why, yes I think you can –"

Before she could finish her sentence, or whatever it was, he bent down to her height and pressed his lips to hers gently. He was finally kissing Luna.

She reached for his hands, but they were in his pockets. She didn't stop kissing him as she pulled them out and held them in her own. He moved closer to her and she felt his mouth form a smile. Luna lifted herself on tip-toe to reach his height, and never before did she want so badly to stay in the forest forever. She was lost in him.


End file.
